Srikakulam gears up for panchayat elections

Srikakulam: The preliminary exercise for village panchayat elections was completed in the district with the release of voters lists and identification of polling stations. The district has 1,141 village panchayats including 10,832 wards. For all the 1,141 panchayats, 10,965 polling stations have been identified.

The total voters in panchayats across the district are 19,02,405 of them male voters are 9,54,068 and female voters are 9, 48, 187 and transgenders are 150. Out of total 19,02, 405 voters, backward class voters are 15,36,895, scheduled caste voters are 1,54,455, scheduled tribe voters are 1,22,109 and other community voters are 88,946.

Based on the voters' lists, reservation lists will be prepared. The panchayat officials are busy in categorization of villages by following the Election Commission guidelines. Officials also received

objections regarding mentioning of caste in the voters list and solved it by conducting grama sabhas. Voter identity cards will be issued with photos in all villages soon by the officials concerned to prevent irregularities during polling.

"By following the Election Commission guidelines, we have released voters lists and identified sensitive polling stations also. We are waiting for government orders on implementation of reservations in village panchayat polls," said District Panchayat Officer Bantupalli Koteswara Rao to The Hans India.